Our Juno became a tripawd in late June and we'd already known there was another tipawd in our neighborhood who lost a leg to trauma in early life. Since then we've seen one, maybe two more bringing our small neighborhood count of tripawds up to a definite three and possible four!

And just this morning while I was walking June a man driving one of the local school drop-off vans slowed down to tell me he'd had a dog named Tripod (clever way to make a potential bug into a feature ;). He said he used to tell people --- "Shhhh! He doesn't know [about the missing leg]. Don't tell him! 🙂 And said he got on to the end of his days perfectly well without it. The man radiated a sense of genuine admiration for the adaptability of dogs.

Indeed, just like this story, other people's tripawds (and their admiration and enjoyment of them) now come up in a surprising number of conversations these days.

In that light, I just wanted to stop and say thanks to Rene, Jim, Jerry, Wyatt, Nellie, all you moderators and helpline hosts, and my fellow community members who've stuck your necks out to ask a question, share an experience, tell a story, or support the site. I like to think you've made it just that much more acceptable and normal to do amputation when necessary and to have tripawds in our midst, and that all that time and effort has played a part - directly or indirectly - in my now living in a tripawd wonderland.